Cold Hands, Warm Hearts
by WoodenDragons
Summary: A series of non-connected one-shots taking place primarily after the events of the movie. May be AU. Occasionally pairings, but primarily Anna and Elsa being sisterly and happy. Chapter One: Elsa is suspicious of Anna's behavior recently...


Elsa is fairly sure that her sister is acting unusually. Not that she has much of a basis for comparison, she just remembers her sister being a bigger presence in the castle than she has been recently. She has been disappearing recently, often retreating to her room right after dinner, and not coming to bother Elsa in her office at all odd hours of the day.

Well, now is the time to take the big sisterly action that she has neglected for the past thirteen years. She's going to do this. She's going to knock on Anna's door and ask her what's wrong. It's just a door, no big deal. Is this how Anna felt all those years in front of her door? Elsa wonders if maybe she should wait until dinner, so she doesn't intrude on Anna's alone time. Yes, that's a good plan. Elsa nods decisively to herself, turning around to go back to her office until dinner.

Then she hears it. A muffled noise form behind the door, followed by scuffling noises and Anna's voice whispering quietly and unintelligibly. She's unsure what to do with herself at this point. Part of her is convinced that she should just wait until dinner, but an ever-growing larger part is convinced that Anna is up to something, and that Elsa should most definitely check up on what is happening.

The larger part wins. Elsa turns back around to face the door, raising her fist and knocking thrice before she can talk herself out of it again. There's the sounds of frantic scrambling from Anna's room, as Anna calls out loudly.

"Uh... Who, who is it?" Anna seems somewhat distracted as she says this, and Elsa is only more suspicious because of it.

"It's Elsa, I just wanted to talk to you." Elsa calls back, straining to hear what those noises on Anna's side of the door are.

"Oh! Okay, just... Just give me a moment. I'll be right there. Actually, you can go ahead and just come in now. Yeah, you can just go ahead and come in now." Anna responds far too loudly and with just a touch too much enthusiasm.

Elsa walks carefully into the room, and finds that it is in completely disarray. It looks like a small hurricane made its way through the room. And Anna is standing near her closet, looking far too innocent to be anything but guilty. Elsa quietly raises an inquisitive eyebrow at Anna, who shrugs nonchalantly in a way that doesn't fool Elsa one bit. Instead of speaking immediately, Elsa silently picks her way over to sit on Anna's bed.

"Anna, is there anything you want to tell me?" Elsa has an idea of what might be going on here, and she has a feeling that this conversation is not going to be pleasant

"What? No, nope, nothing to tell here. What about you? Anything interesting going on in the Queen's life? Probably just boring Queen stuff. Not that you're boring! You're great. I'm just... gonna be quiet now." Anna has always been prone to rambling when she is nervous.

Elsa is not buying a word that Anna is saying. She really doesn't want to have this conversation with her sister. But, as older sister, it is her job to make sure that her sister is safe. Even if it makes Elsa uncomfortable.

"I think I know what this is about." At Elsa's statement, Anna gives a look akin to a deer caught in the lamplight of a sled. "Look, Anna, it really... I think that you're a smart young woman, and you know what you're doing. I trust you, but I just want to make sure you're safe, and you know what you're doing."

"I know what I'm doing, Elsa! He's perfectly safe, and I know that he won't hurt me. He's just too sweet." Anna is almost pleading with Elsa now.

"I just want to make sure. And I was worried, considering all the sneaking about you're doing, that you might not be as safe as you could be. I will definitely want to have a talk with him later." Elsa is hoping to try and get her point across to Anna without having to get into too much detail. She definitely does not want any detail of that sort about her sister.

"I just snuck him up here cause I knew you wouldn't approve of having him here. Besides, I'm practically an expert with him by now, he's such an intelligent little cutie." Anna is not reassuring Elsa in any way right now, despite her apparent intentions.

"Anna! I do not... I do not want to know if you're an expert in... that. I just wanted to know how much mother talked to you about these things. I would also recommend that maybe you just talk to me in the future. I really do like Kristoff, and if you want to take that step..." Elsa is cut off before she can continue by a wide-eyed Anna.

"Wait, what? Kristoff? What do you think I'm doing up here?" Anna seems to be a combination of embarrassed and indignant, which is strange considering how calm she had been up until this point.

"You've been sneaking off with Kristoff, have you not?" This entire conversation has taken a turn that has left Elsa feeling off-balance.

"No! What? No!" Anna splutters, her face turning a rather interesting shade of red "I thought we were talking about,"

Anna is suddenly cut off by a loud whine coming from the closet behind her, followed by a scratching on the door. The door is slowly pushed open by a little golden puppy with big paws and a dopey-looking puppy grin on his face. He tumbles over his feet and out of the wardrobe, his legs caught up in a green silk ribbon. Judging by the ribbon ends, he had been chewing on it before his grand entrance.

Elsa and Anna just stare quietly at the newest arrival to their conversation, Elsa completely unsure how to react to such a strange revelation, and Anna grateful for the reprieve. The little puppy sits wagging his curly little tail until he decides that he is not receiving enough attention. He forgoes Anna completely so he can bound up to Elsa's legs. He wastes no time in jumping onto the bed and nosing his way into Elsa's lap, practically demanding to be pet.

"What is this, Anna?" Elsa asks, quietly

Anna responds cheerfully "Looks like a dog, Elsa."

"You know quite well what I meant, Anna." Elsa's voice has taken on an interesting quality that prompts Anna to take a different approach.

"His name is Thor, I found him on the street. It looks like he got abandoned by the fjord. He's a perfect little angel who loves brussel sprouts." Anna spouts off little facts about the dog, who has given up on getting any attention from Elsa, and has instead moved on to trying to gnaw on her braid, which hangs down her back as a tempting plaything for the excitable puppy.

Elsa quickly pulls her braid in front of her to save it from well-intentioned puppy massacre. "So that's where you've been running off to these past few days? You've been keeping a dog in your room?"

"Yep! I've been feeding him leftovers from dinner. Waste not, want not, right?" Anna nods, clearly thinking that she's gaining the upper hand

"So you haven't been running off to get some... private time with Kristoff." Elsa is slowly gaining a dusting of red in her cheeks, and she can't bring herself to say the actual words out loud. Especially not in front of and about her sister.

"No I have not been running off to have sex with Kristoff! We're most definitely not doing that. And we won't be doing that any time soon. We only met a month ago, what kind of person do you think I am?" The response is almost immediate and slightly petulant.

Elsa chooses not to mention her sister's history of rushed relationships "So you've been talking about this dog the entire time?" Elsa gestures to the dog, who has chosen this very moment to begin trying to chew a hole into Anna's pillow.

"Of course, I don't know why you would assume that I was with Kristoff all this time."

"I don't know! Why would I assume that you were sneaking a dog into your room?" Elsa waves her hand dismissively "Either way, the real point here is that you are not allowed to keep that dog."

"What? Why not? He's an angel!" Anna gestures to the puppy, who has only successfully slobbered on the pillow, but seems quite determined to eat it.

"No, Anna. Dogs are loud. Dogs are smelly. Dogs are a lot of work, and they get into everything." Elsa refuses to have such a destructive creature in her castle, her sister is already quite the force of nature, she doesn't need another high-energy whirlwind of destruction blowing around all the expensive furniture in the castle

"Elsa, what if I took care of him? I'll train him, and wash him, and take care of him. You'll barely notice he's even here!" Anna pleads, taking a few steps toward the bed, as Elsa rises from it.

"He's a little destruction machine, and the castle is no place for a dog. He'll hurt himself or others. And what about when we have dignitaries visiting? We can't have that little monster under foot."

"But just look at this face, Elsa. How can this face be rejected?" Anna drags the little dog away from his pillow and into her arms, where she holds him toward Elsa "Besides, he could be my guard dog when he's older!"

Elsa tries valiantly to remain a voice of reason, but her sister is now making the same face as the dog is. All wide, innocent eyes and hopeful smile. Elsa is totally incapable of refusing her sister anything that makes her so happy. She hates that Anna apparently holds this power over her. Sighing, she runs a hand through her hair once, before turning away and making her way to the door.

"Fine, Anna. The monster can stay," Elsa raises a hand here to cut Anna's excited screaming short "But on a few conditions. One, he must be trained. I don't want a dog that doesn't listen. Two, he stay away from my office. In fact, I don't want to even see him during the day. And three, he is completely your responsibility. You clean up his messes, you feed him, you do whatever it is that that dog needs. All right?"

Anna squeals and agrees, immediately setting the dog down to squeeze the life out of Elsa. The dog seems rather against this display of affection that does not include him, pawing at their legs and barking shrilly to get their attention.

"Don't worry, Thor! You're gonna stay here forever now, and we're gonna have so much fun. Yes, we are. Yes, we are!" Anna seems to have completely forgotten about her sister at this point, and is rushing out of the room, Thor on her heels, shouting something about going to show him all the best places in the castle.

Elsa smiles happily. She actually has a good feeling about this dog, maybe she was wrong about him. He makes Anna so happy, and maybe this will be a good thing for the castle. Make it a bit more lively. Then she hears a crash that sounds suspiciously like one of the suits of armor, followed by more excited barking. The smile on Elsa's face only grows if anything. She knows that Anna will probably not follow most of the conditions, if any, but somehow she's feeling okay with that. Especially if that happy laughter she can hear over the barking is going to become a more frequent noise around the castle.


End file.
